I Am Beautiful With You
by Unoriginality
Summary: You were too beautiful for my world. When you took me to your home, I saw you shine like the sun.


I used to think he was crazy. Crazy beautiful and I was just as crazy for loving him, but I honestly thought he was a bit off his nut once he started opening up, telling me about his home. A different world, he claimed. Crazy, right?

Then came the Thule Society.

Then came his father's sacrifice.

Then came that- that thing I couldn't explain. But Edward knew what it was. It was his way home. And suddenly, I very much wanted to go with him. I wanted to see his paradise, where his brother was, his precious brother whom Edward was horribly homesick for.

I used to think he was crazy. Not so much anymore.

He took me to his home. He showed me his alchemy, a science that I couldn't understand, couldn't replicate, but on the way from what he called Central City to his home in a tiny village called 'Rizenbul', I saw this magical science in work more than once, including from other alchemists.

Edward tried to explain it, but as usual with his explanations, I found myself lost when he went from Point A off to Point 3.7^23. I finally picked up that it was energy from that thing we saw back in Munich. That was enough for me. I hoped his brother, assuming he accepted me- I was still skeptical of Edward's claim of freedom for homosexual couples in his world -would be better able to explain it.

Of course he would, Edward said once he'd given up. Al had the ability to make anyone understand anything. Edward had been scolded more than once by him to never go into teaching.

At least he admitted it.

When the train dropped us off at the tiny platform of Rizenbul's station, for the first time since falling into that underground city under Central, Edward began to practically glow. Like he'd been fearing he was dreaming before, but now that he was in his home town (town? it looked like there were all of five houses, but Edward assured me there were more), his face was lighting up like a child at Christmas, like someone who'd been given the greatest gift they could've asked for.

He grabbed my hand and started trying to run, until the effort caused me a coughing fit. We stopped, let it passed, then we continued on, at a sane pace that wouldn't make me collapse.

Edward paused at a hill, staring off his left a bit. I could see the burned remains of a tree, and low walls, as if a building had been destroyed. His home, the one he and his brother had left six years previously. He declared that it was time to rebuild it, a new home with new memories.

I didn't want to remind him that I was dying, and that would be a memory associated with any new home he built. I decided to let him forget until he'd had time to reconnect with his family. I had time enough left.

His family went into hysterics as we came walking down the path. Two women- one blonde, one dark haired -and a young boy who looked like he could've passed for my brother more than Edward's -were sitting up on a balcony of a large home with a wooden sign that said "Rockbell Automail." They very quickly started running back into the house.

I stood back as things when into mass confusion, a dog barking, an old woman's voice yelling 'what the fuck is going on?!' - she must be Edward's mechanic -and then the blonde woman and boy practically flew out the front door and jumped Edward.

I made the wise choice to step out of the way.

I felt like a bystander watching something that I couldn't tell if it was a tearful homecoming, or a family brawl with no holds barred.

In my efforts to stay away from the chaotic mess, I ended up catching the attention of the dark-haired woman and a small older woman. I was fairly sure that was Pinako. She looked me up and down, then said that it was about time Edward found someone to keep his feet on the ground. I had no idea how she'd already figured out our relationship, but somehow, after what Edward had said of her, I wasn't surprised.

The dark-haired woman introduced herself as Sheska, Winry's fiance.

Oh, so there was already a same-sex relationship in the house. Interesting. As odd as it felt to me, I was relieved to hear that.

My formal introduction to the rest of the family was interrupted by another coughing fit. Edward was out from under the pile of brother and sister far faster than I thought possible and was at my side, fussing at me. It never did any good, but it made him feel better. I waved him off, grabbing my handkerchief from my pocket and wiping away the blood from my mouth and hand.

I suddenly found myself under the scrutiny of not just Edward, but of another Elric, two Rockbells, and whoever Sheska was, and it was very awkward. And rather terrifying.

Pinako inquired after the source of my cough, and as much as I didn't want Edward to remember my condition when he had his long-lost brother right there, I wasn't about to lie to a mechanic that had apparently taught Edward all the dirty words he knew, so I confessed to the lung rot.

She replied with a rude noise and an exclamation of 'horse hockey' which was new to me. My cough sounded more like bronchitis to her, and she set me very straight when I tried to protest that bronchitis doesn't cause bleeding, and it'd been going on for a year now.

Apparently, chronic bronchitis could go on quite some time.

Learn something new every day, especially with Edward around.

Who, at that point, had received several demands from Al and Winry to introduce me. I was nervous, to the point of being unable to speak, forced to give a polite wave when he introduced me as his boyfriend.

I could've cried with relief when the first thing that happened in response was for Edward's younger brother to walk up to me, offer me his hand, and welcome me to the family.

Edward felt the need to give me a smug smile that was his traditional 'I told you so' smile that drove me up the wall. But this time, I was glad he was right.

Winry's welcome followed, along with Sheska's and Pinako's and I was suddenly terrified that this was all a wonderful dream I was having and I'd wake up to our tiny bed and too few blankets in an flat over Miss Gracia's flower shop. Or worse, that I'd wake up alone and Edward himself had been a dream as well.

But if it was a dream, it was a wonderful one and I wasn't quite ready to wake up from it.

Days passed. Al had almost glued himself to Edward's hip, and Edward had to crowbar him off so he could go to bed with me. Al didn't seem to like that, and there were a couple nights where I told Edward I'd be fine if he wanted to sleep in his brother's room. They both needed the reality of each other confirmed and it was always hardest at night.

That earned me a few brownie points with Al.

While Edward tried (and consequently failed when Winry threatened him with a wrench) to give Sheska the 'you make her cry, I make you cry' speech, Pinako and Al dragged me to the back part of the house, which turned out to be almost a hospital.

When I questioned about it, Pinako informed me, quite proudly, that being an automail mechanic included being a surgeon and a physical therapist. She had medical equipment, and it all sounded advanced from my own world.

And yet, they didn't have airplanes. Odd place.

To everyone's relief, though no more than mine or Edward's, after some tests, Pinako declared me not terminal and started me on medicine she said I should've been on a year ago before it'd become a problem.

I decided to be magnanimous and not hold it against the doctors back home, but Pinako wasn't so nice. She had some very creative words for them, and Edward joined her, which proved where he'd gotten that filthy mouth of his.

(Not that I didn't like that filthy mouth, but damn.)

Days turned into weeks, then into a month. My condition improved and for the first time since I'd gotten sick, I felt like I might actually get better. It felt like the rain that had haunted both Edward and I stopped and the clouds parted, letting in warm sunshine that dried up the nightmare Munich had been by comparison.

For the first time, I finally got to see how much Edward could shine, how warm and bright his smiles were, how rich his laughter was. This was Edward in his natural habitat, with his family, everything he'd been craving back in Munich.

I distinctly recall the best morning, a late September day, the calendar years a few behind the one from my world, which was taking me time to get used to. Edward and Al had gone to visit their mother's grave, something I knew I wouldn't be welcome to do with them, so I stayed back at the Rockbell house.

Sheska and Pinako were working on breakfast in the kitchen, and Winry had invited me to share a cup of tea on the balcony. We sat in silence for awhile, something unusual, as she had taken to me like a duck to water once she found out I was an engineer. She was constantly bugging me to swap designs for our respective fields.

Edward was to undergo automail surgery again to replace the prosthetics his father had made him, so I was more interested in her designs and field than I was in sharing mine at that point.

"I'm glad he's home," Winry had said, breaking the silence.

I looked at her over my tea. "Mm." I looked out over the countryside sunrise, so different from the city. "Now that I can see this place, I understand why it seemed to be paradise compared to where we were."

Winry looked over at me. "What was Munich like?"

"Grey," I said, taking another sip. "Always grey. Bad economy, empty cupboards." I looked up at the sky, shades of light purple giving to pink, then to the brilliant red of the sun itself peeking over the mountains. "This place is where he belonged. My world was too ugly for him to thrive. He was too beautiful for it." I wondered what was in that tea that had loosened my lips so much. Perhaps I had just become that comfortable with his family.

I could feel Winry studying me, and when I looked at her, she was smiling. "He's not the only one that was too beautiful for a world like that. The way you make him smile, and the way you smile at him. That's beautiful. So welcome home. We've been waiting for you both."

I flushed, hid behind my tea cup for a moment, then decided to not stop the wide grin that was threatening. "It's nice to be home."

We went back to watching the sunrise.


End file.
